Birmingham News Super Seniors 2011: A new No. 1 and a heavy Auburn flavor at the top

Spanish Fort's Reese Dismukes, shown during a break in a November game at McAdory, is No. 1 on The Birmingham News Super Seniors list. (For The Birmingham News / Rick Zerby)

The recruiting of the state's top senior football players is different this year. One reason is that most of the state's elite talent is getting hooked by a different school.

Alabama has staked that claim for many years, including the past three in-state signing classes by significant margins. In 2011, Auburn is hoarding the top in-state talent.

The Birmingham News' final ranking of the Super Seniors for the Class of 2011 has a new No. 1 compared to the preseason rankings in Spanish Fort center Reese Dismukes. Defensive back Jonathan Rose of Leeds remained at No. 2 in the final evaluation of the state's talent before national signing day this Wednesday.

Another twist is that the state's top two players have already enrolled at Auburn. While their peers are losing sleep this week over one of the big decisions of their lives, Dismukes and Rose will wake up in the same Tiger Hall dorm room. They had enrolled by the middle of January.

They are part of a continuing trend at Auburn, Alabama and elsewhere to graduate from high school early and enroll in college in January rather than summer or fall.

New No. 1

The 6-foot-3, 285-pound Dismukes, a center, earned the top spot because of his dominating play. He finished second in the Mr. Football voting by state sports writers despite not playing a spotlight skill position that usually dominates that decision.

Spanish Fort coach Bryant Vincent, who's now at South Alabama, never saw the nation's top-ranked center by several recruiting analysts whipped by a defender. He saw a few stalemates, but never witnessed a defender shoot a gap into the backfield.

Briarwood coach Fred Yancey led the Alabama team at the Alabama-Mississippi Classic last month. He rated Dismukes as the most dominant prep offensive lineman he'd ever seen. That includes scores of SEC-bound linemen from over the years and in previous stints at the Classic.

"I can see why the folks at Auburn might be counting on him to start right away," Yancey said. "Auburn will have a very good college center right off the bat."

Yancey saw Dismukes provided such a push off the ball by driving his man back that it created "humps" in the line that other defenders had to run around. He noted how the plumber's son never drew attention his way and still got elected a captain. Yancey left Mobile a big Dismukes fan even after Spanish Fort eliminated his Lions from the playoffs two straight years.

"We couldn't get over the fact he plays like his pants are on fire," Yancey said. "I've never seen a center dominate a game like he can."

Dismukes' signing day was a stark contrast to the media-heavy spectacles that will take place across the nation this week. He signed a letter of acceptance to be enrolled on scholarship as a full-time student that's not quite the same letter of intent prospects will use this week.

"I guess the day was Dec. 28," he said. "I signed my letter right on our kitchen table. Mom was like, 'You need to sign this paper here and here' and that's it. No big thing. Then we sent it back. After that, it was done. I was an Auburn Tiger."

Early graduation

Dismukes and Rose are already at Auburn because they graduated early from high school. Alabama's Vincent Sunseri also did that this month, along with Spanish Fort linebacker Blake Dees at Texas Tech.

Alabama enrolled seven early high school graduates in 2010, including the state's top prospect in DeMarcus Milliner. It took in three early graduates this month. ESPNU recruiting analyst Tom Luginbill sees early enrollments becoming the norm for top prospects.

They go through spring practice and summer workouts before their first fall drills, and they learn to live on their own away from home.

"It gives a team an indicator of just how far along a kid is," Luginbill said. "It gives a kid -- if he is going to play right away - the best chance of being successful. Do I think coaches are pushing for it with guys that are willing to do it? Absolutely I do. Especially if they are expecting them to play right away."

Some recruits can graduate early because of block scheduling. That's where an entire class unit, such as Algebra II or French, is taken in one semester. That would be almost impossible at area schools such as Mountain Brook and Hoover where student-athletes have up to eight periods to take seven classes a day and the courses last a school year instead of a semester. Those systems are not on block scheduling.

The state's top two prospects this year took an extra class during the last semester of their junior year and fall semester of football season. They led their teams to state titles despite an increased academic load. Rose benefited from taking an extra math class prior to making the decision to put himself in position for early graduation if he chose to do so.

Dismukes' feat came at the same time he returned from surgery on his labrum that kept him from running or working out the entire summer.

"For a guy to do it, he's got to make that decision by January of his junior year," he said. "He's got to have put himself in position to do that with a good program by playing well on the field and then has to take care of business in the classroom."

Such a decision has cons as well as pros.

"The pros are the kid can graduate early and get into a college strength and training program a semester early," Vincent said. "He competes for a position during spring practice. It's the best way to avoid a redshirt. But there are negatives. That player has to decide if he wants to leave high school and his friends behind six months early. He can miss things like the prom and his graduation."

Dismukes and Rose both said Auburn will allow them to attend both if they can work it out with their schedules.

"I wanted to graduate early," Dismukes said, describing a decision that led him to schedule 5 a.m. daily workouts this fall. "Playing football at Auburn is a big part of my future. I wanted to put myself in the best position to come in and contribute and help the team. Auburn was losing four starters off the offensive line. It made sense."

Hoover principal Don Hulin has been a head basketball coach in his educational career. He understands the athletic side of getting athletes ready for the next level, but balances that with an administrator's concerns.

"I'm going to be skeptical of this," Hulin said. "I wonder how well that (high) school can truly prepare those kids for the academics of college when they leave early. I guess it depends on what a person's goals are for college. If the main goal is to prepare themselves in football, then I see why they do it. I think leaving high school early can only hurt their preparation in getting ready for college studies."

Leeds coach Keith Etheredge noted a positive on the academic side of early enrollment.

"It helps them get a head start," Etheredge said. "Jonathan (Rose) won't have to worry about (both) practice and classes his first few months. He'll have to work out, but won't have it all hit him at once. He gets time to adjust and take things one by one instead of all at the same time."

New rankings

Auburn's current haul of commitments -- always subject to last-minute changes -- has seven of The News' top 15 players, including a scenario that has it landing the top four.

The Tigers have the perceived inside track on the player who was the state's top Super Senior heading into the 2010 season. Valley's Erique Florence, who fell to No. 3 in The News' final rankings after almost exclusive work at quarterback last fall, is considered one of the nation's top defensive backs. He will announce his decision on Wednesday and is expected to choose among Auburn, Alabama and Southern California.

The flip of former Alabama commitment Brent Calloway of Russellville to Auburn means the Tigers could get the state's top four. He flipped to Auburn to play running back instead of accepting an offer as a linebacker at Alabama, but as of this weekend he had not eliminated Alabama.

Alabama looked out-of-state for its top targets, and most recruiting services rate its overall class ahead of Auburn's right now. Its current commitment list has five in-state prospects.

The Crimson Tide nailed down the state's top three prospects last year and seven of the top 12 Super Seniors. Alabama swept the state's top five players and eight of the top 12 Super Seniors in 2009. Auburn had just one member of the state's top 12 Super Seniors that year, but grabbed four of those players in 2010.

Homewood's Ameer Abdullah made the biggest leap from preseason to postseason on The News' list. The Nebraska commitment climbed 16 spots to No. 8.

Wetumpka's Jamal Golden is now No. 11 after being unranked before the season. The defensive back prospect won the Alabama Sports Writers Association's "Mr. Football" Award this month after a banner season at quarterback. He's committed to Georgia Tech.

The reduction of signing day drama continues. Florence is the only one of The News' top 10 players who has not publicly committed. That's a far cry from 2009 when four of the state's top nine prospects (Kendall Kelly, Dre Kirkpatrick, Brandon Moore and Tana Patrick) created a whirlwind of suspense with signing-day announcements.